


Eos: Ancient History and Beyond

by ValkyrieofArdyn



Series: Ardyn's Happy Ending AU [3]
Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alien Invasion, Astral War, Astral failure, Demi-astral, Eos ancient history, Gen, Headcanon, Lucis Caelums, Scourge, Solheim (Final Fantasy XV), The Accursed
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-15
Updated: 2018-10-15
Packaged: 2019-07-28 00:57:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16230887
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ValkyrieofArdyn/pseuds/ValkyrieofArdyn
Summary: Eos, a being already ancient among her kin, wandered through dimensions and universes....from her was the planet named and life sprang forth.





	Eos: Ancient History and Beyond

**Author's Note:**

> My personal headcanon for how things went down in ancient Eos, and what I used to form the story of [Unveiled](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10638060). Told by an omniscient narrator.

  Eos a being already ancient among her kin, wandered through dimensions and universes. Looking for a place to rest and sow the ultimate evidence of her existence, children. Eventually, Eos found a young galaxy and an even younger but beautiful planet. Seeing the lush world, full of delightful plants and creatures, the old being decided to claim it as her own.

     First, she created six beings in the image of the planet's elements. Molded from her breath, and dust of stars, she deemed them Astrals. Granting them powers and knowledge to succeed as guardians of their charges; the planet and her children. The sole reason for their lives. 

    Second, she shaped beings in her likeness, her legacy, and called them humans. To them, she did not grant great powers or long life, but gave them the freedom and want to explore, create, and thrive. Never would they become stagnant as her own race. With the ample guidance and protection provided by the Astrals, Eos was confident in her children's ability to grow and surpass her expectations.

      The third and last act Eos made as creator was delving into the core of the planet, where she curled up and reshaped the essence of the planet to her own. No tremors and eruptions would mark an end to her children. One with the planet, Eos fell into a light slumber, content to dream of the lives flourishing on her surface. Magic added to the already euphoric world as Eos's dwindling powers pulsed up and out. A magic the people later learned to harness. 

* * *

 

     The six Astrals governed over Eos for many thousands of years. They protected the people upon it and also their Goddess, the soul of the world, Eos. Bahamut the Draconian, leader of the Astrals, holder of light, watched both his brethren and humans; making sure war did not decimate either. Titan the Archaean forged the land to aid the humans. Ramuh the Fulgurian kept the natural laws of the planet, removing anything that threatened its wellbeing. Leviathan the Hydraean took charge of the expansive oceans, keeping them within their boundaries. Shiva the Glacian brought coldness and curbed it as requested. Ifrit the Infernian brought the warmth and fire to the world.

     In the beginning, many of the Astrals held themselves aloof from the humans. Distant watchers that only found fulfillment in knowing their Goddess slumbered undisturbed. The humans too fleeting to take interest in, messengers, four created by each Astral, were used to communicate. Well known and loved by the people first as helpers in the new world.

     But after a time, Ifrit took it upon himself to teach the humans and help their civilization progress. Following him, Shiva’s heart melted towards the humans, and also came to love her Astral counterpart. The other Astrals followed suit in reducing their dismissal of the humans and even came to bless those favored. Bahamut remained distant in his stoicness, respected out of fear by most humans, but even he had devoted followers. 

    Soon the humans of Eos began to call the lands they resided in Solheim, “Home of the Sun,” in reverence to Ifrit who they worshiped most above all for his kindness. The Solheim people flourished with an Emperor leading and Ifrit guiding. Often known to visit the people in corporeal form, forgoing the use of his messengers.

    The only other Astral who was known to walk among the people was Shiva. Soothing whenever Ifrits heated ire in situations became too much. And with her and Ifrits lovers status well known, people often sought out Shiva’s approval when Ifrit would otherwise deny. An act that only made her fonder of humans, for they all, even the eldest, were but children. Beloved weak children and Eos's lifeblood.   

* * *

 

       Unbeknownst to the other Astrals and humans, identity cloaked, Bahamut also walked Eos. As the God of war, he was always interested to see what drove humans into such conflict. Submerging himself into human culture, Bahamut observed all the little things that made them make the choices they did. But as the God harnessing the combined light of the planet and Eos, the Draconian was more intrigued to see what made them worthy to represent Eos. 

  Never was it his intention to fall for a human woman. Especially not one promised to another, but the unquestionable magic of Eos in her blood sang to him. On top of that, her beauty was unparalleled in the human realm. With the Goddess's fiery hair, Bahamut questioned for a while if it was Eos herself testing him. But Elise - fiance to Geralt Izunia, Bahamuts most devoted follower - was purely human with the rare blessed touch of Eos. Her soul absorbing Eos's light out of the very earth, something Bahamut had not seen in a thousand years, the line of Eos's healers thought dead. But never in all his twice over millennia of existence had Bahamut met an individual like her. Someone able to enter his heart he thought untouchable with a mere whisper, and a glint of the eyes. The tilt of her head carrying more weight than the judgment of his brethren, and influencing him like a leaf on the winds.  

    Bahamut never revealed who he was to Elise, but it seemed she knew when she came to him the night before her wedding. The God of war did not balk when she voiced her want and lay with her throughout the night. Giving in to the temptation of the flesh for the first and last time. That night, with the sight of prophecy, Bahamut knew he had fathered beings not meant for the world. The first hint of darkness on the horizon in the vision of twin boys, but they also held it off. 

   From their consummation, Elise bore Ardyn and Somnus. Fraternal twins displaying their mixed blood; one warm sunshine, the other cool starlight. Afraid that the other Astrals would discover his folly of passing on his genes to a mortal, Bahamut erased all knowledge of him from Elise’s mind. Becoming once more a distant God to be feared. The boys were raised within the Izunia house as the believed children of Elise’s husband. 

     Bahamut continued to keep a close watch on his offspring, unsure of what powers he could have passed to them. In their twelfth year of life, the twins began to display the powers Bahamut feared. The ability to summon glaives, and harness elemental powers. They also seemed to possess some healing abilities, but Ardyn’s power surpassed far beyond his brothers. The matching hair to his mothers clearly embodying more than just a physical characteristic. 

     With two demi-astrals in existence, having the potential to off balance the world set into motion by Eos, with no goal to focus on, Bahamut provided a reason for their gifts. Appearing before house Izunia in a display of power, Bahamut declared that Ardyn and Somnus were blessed by him due to the house of Izunia pleasing him. Sending his messengers across the known world, all were informed.

       Following his blessing, the house Izunia became know as Lucis Caelum and were tasked with being the Astral's light. Protectors and healers as needed on Eos as an extension of Bahamut. Nothing but faithful followers blessed, and a reason for Bahamut to stay close to the family. His Astral brethren did not question his actions, Ifrit the only one showing disgruntlement at Bahamut's seemingly overpowered blessing. More than any so far granted to humans, but life on Eos continued on without issue, for a time.      

* * *

 

     In the year of Ardyn and Somnus’s twenty-fifth birthday, Ifrit learned of the Solheim peoples betrayal. The Emperor and nobles of the Solheim lands had become greedy for more power. Not satisfied with the knowledge Ifrit provided, they had decided to tap in the soul of Eos. Looking to increase their understanding to be that of an Astrals; knowing Eos herself could only provide such insight.

      Enraged that the people he had lead into greatness would go behind his back and greedily take what was not given, Ifrit decided that the humans were unfit to continue. A mar upon Eos name. Their corrupted civilization was to be wiped from the planet before they could bring further shame to their maker.

     Using a forbidden twisted magic, Ifrit called from the fire of the stars a darkness. He did not understand it completely but he knew that it would wipe out the humans. Many meteors rained down from the sky, causing chaos across all the lands of Solheim. None were spared this calamity. Many humans perished in one day from the meteors destructive landings. The largest meteor, one that probably would have destroyed the planet itself was caught by the mighty Titan.

    After the dust of the meteor's arrival began to settle, a new threat became apparent. A black cloud composed of alien insects swarmed over the lands infecting all that they touched. Even Ifrit himself wasn’t immune to the parasites injected into his body and finding a home in his hate-filled heart. Driving him further into blinding madness. The Scourge, as the messengers declared it to the humans, did not differentiate between Gods and beast. Finding their weakness and turning all into monsters.

    The other five astrals had been lenient on watching Ifrits actions, battling only when human deaths numbers rose, but once the planet came into danger because of his actions, they made true war against him. Shiva his lover denounced him, using her ice to make his burning embers cold. Ramuh raged with the heavens, a storm of thunder and lightning finding Ifrit no matter where he fled. Leviathan made the ocean's no place for Ifrit to flee, but due to her own hatred of the human's actions did not actively fight him. Titan from under the meteors weight prevented Ifrit’s escape into the core of the planet, while Bahamut blocked Ifrit from returning to the Astral realm and fought him.

     For long the Astrals warred. For three years the air filled with long periods of Ifrit and Bahamut clashing, tearing the earth apart where they battled. The only peace known was when Ifrit was successful in hiding from his kin, healing his wounds. Every time he reappeared though, his scourge infection increased. Finally, Ifrit’s mind given into the darkness, hatred his only emotion, Bahamut laid him to rest upon the rock of Ravatough, a mountain that the people had whispered lead up to the Astral realm. Impaled on the destroyed mountain, Ifrit’s own dying flames and body served as his burial pyre. Then that everlasting flame became a cold ember, the molten blood flowing out of the mountain the pathetic leftovers of the once mighty God.  

   With the war over, the Astrals saw that humans were left on the brink of extinction in the wake of their destruction and the scourge ravaging the lands. Although Titan remained unaffected to the darkness released by the meteor upon his back, his soul too pure and simple, the other Astrals dared not to mess with the alien power. They saw that the menace had already ingrained itself into the Eos, residing completely in the mortal realm, and only a death by a mortal would remove the darkness. And if not removed, their sole purpose for existing would disappear.

   The Astrals at a loss of how to save the planet received instruction from their beloved Goddess Eos. “All is not lost because of your negligence. This evil, even I have never seen, can be eliminated. The mortal whose blood is divine, already harnessing my power, can cleanse the darkness. My body is no more, but my essence is contained. I will help the chosen ascend to divinity in order to complete the banishment of the evil. But it will require the ultimate sacrifice of myself and the chosen. Do not forget my Astrals, saving my children is saving me.”

    Upon hearing her words, Bahamut entered the core of the planet and found the only thing remaining of Eos was her crystallized heart. The last of her light, the origin of all their magic, pulsing strong and unwavering. The Astrals wept that day, burdened with grief and failure. Having caused a loss that was never meant to occur. But hoped remained in Eos's promise and the warmth of her heart in Bahamuts hands. 

     That was the last any of the Astrals heard from Eos. The next to be graced her voice and presence was not the Chosen, but a mortal ready to sacrifice all for one doomed. 

  Bahamut revealed to his brethren that the divine blood Eos spoke of were his children he had begotten with a mortal woman. That the Lucis Caelum twins much more than blessed. The other Astrals were infuriated at Bahamut's deceit and unthinkable conduct, but Eos had spoken and they wouldn’t fail again. They demanded though that the Chosen prove his worth through trials against them, the Astrals. Shiva alone, torn by Ifrits madness and death, promised her covenant without trial. Providing aid to the one to fix her lover's mistake, gilded as the high messenger Gentiana, an alter persona created just so that she could be close. 

* * *

 

   When Bahamut turned his attention to the Lucis Caelums, he found that they had not been left unscathed. Elise and her husband were no more, casualties from Ifrit's initial attack on the capital. The loss of his mortal lover wounded Bahamut, the burden of failure increased double fold, but the heirs of their line soothed the rawness of it all.

    His sons were now grown men, and it was clear who the chosen one was. Who Bahamut always sensed had the strongest powers of divinity. Ardyn was already traveling the land and healing people from the Scourge with his powers of light. The infections darkness no match against Ardyn's touch, just as Eos proclaimed. His brother Somnus was not idle either. He took on the role of leader to the remaining people, building them back up again; helping where he could with his own abilities. Protecting and healing as much as he was capable. The brothers combined were a mighty beacon of hope against the endless alien menace, keeping the human race alive by the barest of threads. And all with no assistance except that of their blood.      

   Pleased with his sons' actions, Bahamut appeared before Ardyn and Somnus Lucis Caelum and told them of their divine destined duties. Ardyn was given the soul of the Eos, a Crystal that would further increase his healing and other innate abilities. When the majority of the scourge was defeated by Ardyn, his ascension as the King of light would take place. (The true sacrifice required of him kept secret until the destined time. A decision Bahamut made to allow the Chosen to work unburdened. Knowing Ardyn enough that he would complete his ascension no matter the cost presented in the end. A nieve but true fact, more so than the Astral knew.) Somnus was to use his glaives to dispel the unsavable demons ravaging the lands and also protect the precious Crystal until Ardyn’s ascension. Maintaining his role as a leader, hailed the steward to the anticipated King of Light. 

      Nearly overnight and without question, the people across the lands accepted Ardyn as the Sage and Somnus the Mystic. Rejoicing that they would be saved by the family blessed before the fall. A King the Gods smiled upon raising them up out of the ashes.  

    Seeing the land so ravaged by the menace, Bahamut decided to gift another family with divine powers of healing. Infusing a trident -forged by Leviathan- with the Crystal’s power of the stars, Bahamut bequeathed it and a blessing to a pious maiden from the lands later known as Tenebrae. Carrying the title of Oracle, she was tasked to aid the Chosen and be the voice of the Astrals since most of the messengers parished in the Astral war. The chosen maiden’s name was Nadir Nox Fleuret, the oldest of four siblings whos house had long been in service to the Glacian. 

     Ten years passed before the day of ascension came. During that time Ardyn traveled through all of Eos with his General, shield, and friend: Gilgamesh Amicitia. Before the meteor and war, Gilgamesh had been working towards taking his father's place as General to the blessed Lucis Caelum house. His family having a long history of working as personal guards for the Emperor of Solheim and the occasional nobility; their strength and unwavering loyalty influenced by Titan's favor. With the Solheim empire completely destroyed and left a ruin, the only remaining Amicitia blood was in Lucis. (A new nation made into being by the general populace congregating to the blessed family.) As a shield, swearing fealty to Ardyn the Savior King, an irreversible bond was created. Allowing him to call upon glaives and protect his charge without fail.

     Throughout the years of saving the people from the rampant Scourge, it became common knowledge that those infected transformed into monsters once they died. Or everyone hoped what remained of the human died. The term daemon, a myth, was turned real as people used it to describe the Scourge abominations. Even Ardyn was unable to reverse the transformation once a person became a daemon so death was the mercy given to those. The sky in those early days after the war, often overcast due to the number of daemons and their particles ceaselessly released. In death and life.

    Ardyn and the Oracle traveled together often as well, their powers strengthening one another. But they would also work separately to allow more coverage, increasing the number of people saved. The high messenger Gentiana guiding the two in saving the world and achieving covenants with each of the Astrals. Of the other last three surviving messengers: Umbra stayed as Somnus’s companion while Pryna was Nadir’s. Unseen to most, the messenger Carbuncle watched over Ardyn, mainly keeping the nightmares of the day free from his dreams. (The night Carbuncle ceased to hold the daemons he housed at bay, that was when doubt took hold in Ardyn's heart.) All three of the messengers provided communication between the destiny called individuals and the Gods.

* * *

 

    Although the lands and people were under hardship with limited sunlight and scarce recourses, love still prevailed. People able to see a future instead of bleak shadows. Ardyn married his longtime lover and friend, who was a researcher in the healing arts before the Astral war and assisted Somnus in stabilizing the land after. Somnus married Nadir within the same year they met and had a son. Gilgamesh stayed single, focused solely on his duty to Ardyn but his brother Ammon -who stayed with Somnus as his shield- had three sons by the end of the ten years of healing.

   By the time the ten years passed -Ardyn and the Oracle healing the people of Eos- darkness receded back to its normal time. The Chosen King of light and Oracle succeeded in receiving the Astrals blessings—but it was no easy task. Ardyn was tested to the limit of his abilities and Nadir lost her life shortly after the last covenant with Bahamut was formed. The dredges of her life energy given to solidify the bond, hardly having enough after battling the scourge for so long. Healing a heftier toll for her human body housing the mighty power and taint of daemons.  

    With sorrow for the Oracles death hanging heavy, the day of Ardyn’s ascension commenced. All people near and able traveled to the Lucis capital established by Somnus and where the Crystal was kept safe. The blessed crystal moved to the city square so that many could witness the ascension that would save the world; the wise and honorable healer banishing the darkness once and for all. 

    The ascension never happened. Not as any God or man expected. All underestimating the power of the Scourge in relation to the light. 

    When the Chosen King reached towards the Crystal, its light enveloped him and he screamed. Everyone witnessed their Chosen healer crumble into a heap of pain. Reactions roaming between shock and confusion, but soon turned wary as multiple voices screeching originated from Ardyn. When the Crystals light dissolved away, it became apparent that his appearance was no longer the same.

   Ardyn, the Chosen, a healer, now looked like the very daemons he fought against. Skin a pale contrast with the black veins under his skin. Eyes a burning yellow with a black backdrop. Fingers, more like claws, clutched at his chest raking with coughs. As he shook and panted, black ichor bled from his eyes and sprayed from his mouth. A dark mist, all associated with demons, leaked from Ardyn's form, creating a dark haze. Shouts filled with horror echoed through the square when Ardyn lurched up to his feet. Claws outstretched.  

      Somnus acted quickly and had Ardyn seized before he could recover fully from the Crystal’s burning judgment. Somnus knew that the Crystal had rejected Ardyn, and perhaps if his intuition wasn't clouded in grief, his heart bitter needing someone easy to blame, it wouldn’t have been so easy for him to declare Ardyn a daemon. Accepting that he wasn’t human easier than believing his wife died for nothing. All the worries he had about the changes he saw in Ardyn over the years now showing their colors.

     Watching what was once his brother, Somnus only saw the daemon that took everything from him, with naught a twinge of remorse. But satisfaction that the truth was revealed and judgment would be delivered. Ardyn’s wife and Gilgamesh questioned Somnus's decree, but he made sure all saw the truth. And quickly. The vast amount of darkness housed in his brother's body needed to be purged. With the Oracle dead and Ardyn corrupted, no time could be wasted before the Scourge rose up once more.  Somnus would complete his role as protector. 

* * *

 

        Bahamut and the other Astrals had watched from the divine realm as Ardyn was denied by the Crystal. Another outcome they and it seemed the Crystal, failed to see. They saw immediately though why Ardyn was denied, his soul too tainted to be the vessel of the remainder of Eos’s light. The requirement for being the sacrifice needed to purge the world of the scourge, which Bahamut made clear to Ardyn himself.

    The least he could do for his son cursed with powers none understood that allowed him to be the vessel of the scourge instead. Maintaining the very life force of the darkness. Bahamut spoke to Ardyn while the Crystal’s light enveloped him. Telling him that he had become Accursed, the scourge preventing him from being the savior of the world. His fate now connected to the scourge’s destruction. That he was now the darkness to be destroyed by the prophesied chosen King next to come.  

   Bahamut saw that Ardyn would be condemned by his people, friends, and family, then executed—but not die. The scourge granting him immortality, reviving him before his soul can pass into the afterlife. Bahamut felt shame that he had not predicted how the scourge would manipulate Ardyn’s divines power. That the Oracles death is what made sense. But there was nothing he could do. Eos prophecy was still needing to be fulfilled, so his son's only hope was in the next chosen king to come from his bloodline.

  Upon his own accord, Somnus struck Ardyn from the records of time, to make the world forget about him. The Accursed had no place in the world until his fated day arrived, and would only weaken the family's legitimacy.

     For several weeks Somnus made sure the general populace became convinced of Ardyn’s fall from grace. That he was one of the daemons he harvested over the years. Expanding and voicing his own suspicions, once insubstantial but feeling more like the truth as the days passed. The abnormal healing of the daemon’s wounds as he was put on display, the black blood that stained whatever it touched, golden eyes cold and void of life. Everyone did come to see a daemon, even Gilgamesh, taking charge of exposing the daemon trying to continue its facade as his brother.

       Ardyn’s stubbornly faithful wife was the only one that never saw the truth. Even though a order was given that any who continued to support Ardyn were to be imprisoned and punished, execution the most severe outcome, she never wavered. And Somnus could not bring himself to follow through on the punishment. Instead, she was forced to bear witness repeatedly to the daemon inhabiting her husband and then hidden away from the public. After the execution and a failed rescue attempt, she eventually disappeared without a trace. The name of the Accursed wife was then also struck from the records. Never to be mentioned again.

     In the weeks following Ardyn’s demonization and ostracization from the people, the Astrals built a prison for the now accursed immortal sage. When Ardyn’s execution was completed and his body dissolved into the middle realm, Bahamut took him and placed him in a deep sleep within the cell created on Angelgard island. All the Astrals placed seals around the prison holding their irrefutable mistake. With their work done until the next Chosen King arrived, Shiva, Ramuh, Leviathan, and Titan fell into slumber. What messengers remained fading from memory as dependence on the gods did. 

     Bahamut while retrieving Ardyn,  he appeared to his last remaining son Somnus and revealed to him Ardyn’s now cursed fate and provided him with the new prophecy that would be passed from generation to generation until the Chosen King arrived. Gentiana being his voice so that all understood. 

     “ _O'er rotted Soil, under blighted sky, A dread Plague the Wicked has wrought. In the Light of the Gods, Sword-Sworn at his Side 'Gainst the Dark the King's Battle is fought. From the Heavens high, to the Blessed below, Shines the Beam of a Peace long besought. "Long live the Line, and this Stone divine, For the Night when All comes to Naught."_

Somnus was provided a ring, an extension of the Crystal to help protect it until the promised time. Each King’s soul to pass strengthening the light within it further. Bahamut then took up his vigil within the Crystal, watching his descendants and making sure the next Chosen would succeed. The power of the Oracle rekindled in a remaining Nox Fleuret daughter. 

   Bahamut didn’t know how long or how many souls of kings it would take until the Crystal had enough power to overcome the Scourge, so all he could do was wait. In those years of waiting, reflecting, what regret he could feel, Bahamut felt it most for Ardyn. Taking on a destiny, cursed because of the Gods oversight, but he could do naught. Even the salvation of Ardyn's soul was out of his reach. Bahamut could see enough into the future to know that by the time the savior King did arise the darkness will have consumed all of his light making him what he was accused to be. His soul forever lost to the void when finally freed by the Chosen King of Kings.   

      And so Bahamut counted the deaths of his descendants until he would finally count the last. The one that mattered most. Only then would redemption be found for all. 

* * *

 

      When the glaives and light pierced. All form of the Scourge dissolved, Bahamut watched Ardyn and his beloved enter a new realm of existence. His soul saved by a mortal's will to fight, and the grace of Eos. An ending Bahamut had foreseen but had not waited for it to come to pass. A mortal had succeded though where failure on existed for the divine. 

      For a brief moment, Bahamut contemplated explaining things. Everything. But the only one it would benefit was him. So like all the other times he thought of talking to his son, Bahamut remained silent. Especially since where Ardyn was going now, it would be best he forgot his past life.  

      Finally freed of his responsibility to see his lineage set free, Bahamut returned to Eos. Taking up his once more sole responsibility of protecting the planet and all upon it. The Astrals would not fail Eos again, but Eos children also wouldn't be restained. They the true governors of the world. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> For chapter 2, I plan to cover what happened between escaping from his prison and his arrival as Chancellor of Niflheim. More general headcanons I have and specific ones that go with my other fic, Unveiled.


End file.
